NOTES from CITY HALL WHAT’S NEXT FOR PRESTON CENTER?

In the wake of two heated zoning battles at Preston and Northwest Highway comes the first land-use study of the Preston Center area in 25 years. Traffic has been the main concern at the car-clogged intersection, which holds some 56,000 cars a day, according to the most recent statistics from Texas Department of Transportation. The study will focus largely on how to improve transportation, and the wheels are turning.

The North Texas Council of Governments (COG) is funding half of the cost of the study, which will total about $300,000, and Michael Morris, COG’s director of transportation, has some ambitious goals for Northwest Highway.

“It needs to look more like a neighborhood street,” he told stakeholders at a recent meeting.

Morris suggested following a model similar to East Dallas’ State Highway 78, better known as Garland Road, which now serves more local traffic than thru-traffic.

The yearlong study won’t result in any zoning change at City Hall but rather in a guide for how to handle future zoning cases.

It still relies on the power of the city council.

“This will kind of stabilize things, and people won’t be bringing unrealistic zoning proposals to the table,” says Councilwoman Jennifer Staubach Gates.

The two recent proposals involved increasing density with new apartments at Preston and Northwest Highway. Transwestern planned three stories with 164 units at the northeast corner, and Crosland Group wanted to build a 27-story high-rise in the middle of Preston Center. Both plans were pulled amid neighborhood opposition.

Now, neighbors are watching the residential-zoned tracts on the northwest corner, owned by Mark Cuban, who has begun clearing the area. For what, it’s not yet clear, but he’d have to go through some opponents at City Hall.

“I have a pretty strong bias that singlefamily remain single-family,” Gates says. “It’s kind of sacred ground in this district.”

The Preston Center study will include stakeholders from seven zones, including the commercial district and surrounding neighborhoods. A task force will form, community workshops will take place and eventually, by next summer, the actual study will begin.

At this stage in the process, the goals are vague — to decide the appropriate mix of uses and to “at least fix the traffic problems,” Gates says.

Questions about whether Preston Center should support more density or restrict it are what the study is meant to answer.

“There’s redevelopment potential, but we’re not looking at that. You have to understand what’s there,” she says. “We won’t’ know until it’s studied. We need planners and experts beyond politicians deciding what’s best for the neighborhood.”

—Emily Toman